https://youtu.be/w52Mk2uDJAw

My Improv teacher Tara taught me this as a way to “shake off the day” before performing or practicing.

I find it to be a weird, fun, and quick exercise to get myself out of a funk, too. Tara never named this, so I’m taking a liberty here by naming it The Funkbuster, but that’s better than “the crazy arm thing Tara taught me” which I was calling this in my head. 

https://youtu.be/Fdu4wcypUvs

Breathing exercises are the foundation of meditation. Deep focused breathing helps get oxygen into your blood and can change your emotional state. I do these short breathing exercises before or after stressful meetings, or really anytime I can safely close my eyes and spend 30 seconds paying attention to my breathing. 

An anxiety reducing exercise that engages all senses.

https://youtu.be/GKi1d3AqMR8

I picked up this exercise from my former therapist. When I’m really anxious and shutting down, this helps me a lot. Apparently stress and anxiety overwhelm your big part of your brain. The prefrontal cortex. That’s where we strategize and plan.

When it shuts down, the “lizard brain”, the small brain takes over. It’s responsible for fight or flight or freeze. These days, thankfully for most of us it doesn’t mean fleeing from or punching a tiger. But it can make us prone to distractions and give into our basic instincts, which may not be helpful at any given moment.

This exercise is fast and easy to do. It can actually be fun, as your lizard brain goes back to rest, and your big brain gets to come back alive.